Alibaba’s Jack Ma brags it could become 5th-largest economy

Alibaba’s $23.5 billion in revenue last year was still dwarfed by Alphabet’s $90 billion and Amazon’s $136 billion. In Ma’s own words, the Chinese ecommerce giant is still just “a baby.”Bloomberg | Updated: June 18, 2017, 12:29 IST

At Alibaba’s annual investor day, China’s richest man outlined a vision where the company he founded could become the world’s fifth biggest economy by 2036, trailing only the US, China, Europe and Japan. Let’s just say most entrepreneurs in China wouldn’t make that comparison.

“Well, people say, this is too big,” Ma said of the scale of Alibaba’s ambition. “It costs nothing to imagine, right?”

Many shrugged the comments off as bluster from a man prone to making grand pronouncements. Ma based his prediction on the number of goods transacted on his platforms and the potential number of customers. And Alibaba’s $23.5 billion in revenue last year was still dwarfed by Alphabet’s $90 billion and Amazon’s $136 billion. In Ma’s own words, the Chinese ecommerce giant is still just “a baby.”

Yet in Hangzhou, in front of thousands of global investors, Ma planted the flag and claimed that his company would one day become one of the world’s most powerful economies by serving 2 billion people and helping 10 million small businesses trade freely on the web.

On closer examination, it’s clear that none of Ma’s rhetoric ignored the groundwork that has already been laid out by Beijing, whether it’s China expanding its footprint in Africa, exploring the ocean frontier in Southeast Asia, or revitalising the once-famous Silk Road. When Xi Jinping was in Davos talking up global trade, Ma was quick to call (again) for his web-based version of the WTO. When China touted its One Belt, One Road project, Ma was quick to tout Alibaba’s expansion in those regions.

Ma’s dabbling in international affairs is rooted in the goal of amassing billions of customers by 2036. By his own calculation, China will only be able to provide 40% of that market, the rest will have to be found overseas.

Following China’s Belt-Road project, setting up global trade platforms, even his promise to President Donald Trump to create a million jobs in the US is all part of that plan. Indeed, Ma heads to Detroit next week to bring that message.